how interdisciplinary course reflect on approach to education

Why Teach with an interdisciplinary approach?

teaching in interdisciplinary settings, and we will use and discuss the journey as a metaphor for learning. We argue that teaching in interdisciplinary studies rests on movements between different understandings, and that it gives ample opportunities for beneficial learning processes. This does not only apply to interdisciplinary studies.

Why are interdisciplinary forms of learning so prevalent in higher education?

Mar 10, 2021 · Project-Based Learning, with the essential elements of the . Gold Standard Design . in place, lends itself to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning. An interdisciplinary approach supports students as they use and develop an understanding of concepts and skills from other disciplines.

Is interdisciplinary education engaging and engaging?

May 26, 2021 · Interdisciplinary Teaching Increases Student Learning. Engaging students and helping them to develop knowledge, insights, problem solving skills, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and a passion for learning are common goals that educators bring to the classroom, and interdisciplinary instruction and exploration promotes realization of these objectives.

What is Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL)?

The interdisciplinary approach synthesizes more than one discipline and creates teams of teachers and students that enrich the overall educational experience. Many researchers find many advantages, as well as disadvantages, of interdisciplinary studies. Student education has suffered the inferior pedagogy of traditional methodologies that concentrate

How do you use the interdisciplinary approach to teaching?

How to Teach with an Interdisciplinary ApproachDEFINE problems, issues, topics or questions that warrant interdisciplinary examination.PRESENT a clear rationale for taking interdisciplinary approach including the advantages to be gained.IDENTIFY relevant disciplines.More items...•Jun 17, 2020

Why interdisciplinary approach is important?

Interdisciplinary Teaching Helps Students Tolerate or Embrace Ambiguity. Interdisciplinary instruction helps students understand why conflicts commonly arise over; the causes and consequences of an issue and, the ideal way for policy to address the issue of concern.May 26, 2021

Why is it important to apply the interdisciplinary approach in the social sciences when studying social issues and problems?

The use of an interdisciplinary approach in the study of social problems enables learners to understand the ethical dilemmas that accompany social issues. Consequently, ethical considerations are important when sorting through the quagmire of moral factors, equal justice, and social issues.Dec 21, 2020

How do you think interdisciplinary studies can add value to your college education?

An Interdisciplinary Studies degree allows students to design their own degree by selecting programs from multiple disciplines. This allows students to customize their education in order to prepare for their career goals.Feb 5, 2019

What is Intradisciplinary approach in education?

An intradisciplinary approach involves an arrangement of the knowledge and skills within one subject area. This approach respects the subject's way of knowing distinct conceptual structures and methods of inquiry. It aims at integrating the subject's knowledge and skills into a coherent whole.

Why should we use interdisciplinary approach in studying globalization?

Answer: Students will approach global issues from these perspectives, where they could think and feel the notions of the global world from an unpretentious perspective. They will explore and understand its diversity, sustainability, as an approach to become global thinkers and global citizens.Jan 10, 2021

Why interdisciplinary teaching is important in social studies?

Social studies is perfect for interdisciplinary teaching because it includes the study of concepts and themes, ideas and beliefs, and people and places, all of which incorporate knowledge learned in other school subjects... Concepts help to form the foundation of subject matter.Jun 1, 2021

What is meant by interdisciplinary approach?

An interdisciplinary approach involves drawing appropriately from several disciplines (or separate branches of learning or fields of expertise) to redefine problems outside of normal boundaries and reach solutions based on a new understanding of complex situations.

What does interdisciplinary mean and how is social studies used to teach with this approach?

Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of two or more academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics etc. It is about creating something by thinking across boundaries.

Interdisciplinary Teaching Increases Student Learning

1. Recognize bias 2. Think critically 3. Tolerate ambiguity 4. Acknowledge and appreciate ethical concerns

Interdisciplinary Teaching Promotes Significant Learning

Significant Learning (Fink, 2003) takes place when meaningful and lasting classroom experiences occur. According to Fink when teachers impart stude...

Interdisciplinary Teaching Promotes Understanding When Students Learn in Heterogeneous Ways

1. Prominent psychologist Howard Gardner (1983) established that students bring multiple forms of intelligence to the learning process. As a result...

The World Is Interdisciplinary

1. According to The National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE 1995) "educational experiences are more authentic and of greater value to studen...

Interdisciplinary Teaching Is Not Too Costly and It's Rewarding

Moving from a disciplinary oriented form of teaching to being an interdisciplinary educator is not too costly for four reasons. First, most educato...

Why is student driven inquiry important?

Student-driven inquiry, an essential element in Project-Based Learning, takes time and could go awry without regular check-ins and definitive dates for completing tasks. This becomes especially important in a remote or hybrid environment. Including due dates and maintaining them throughout the unit will keep students on track. These can become flexible as students become more familiar with the Project-Based Learning approach.

What is open ended approach?

This open-ended and student-driven approach lends itself to any learning environment or instructional model. Teachers can design a unit with components that are both synchronous and asynchronous (i.e., real-time instruction and independent learning). With guidance and structure, students can develop an understanding and awareness of the resources available to them across the various settings in which their learning can take place. With that awareness, they can determine their best inquiry path for their context and learning preferences, even as their specific learning model may change.

What is project based learning?

Project-Based Learning, with the essential elements of the Gold Standard Design in place, lends itself to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning. An interdisciplinary approach supports students as they use and develop an understanding of concepts and skills from other disciplines. This takes place as they seek out their solution to the driving question (Boss & Larmer, 2018; Drake, 2012). A transdisciplinary approach goes beyond learning in school, with a deliberate focus on learning outside of the classroom that can support flexible pathways (e.g., work-based learning, authentic inquiry, service learning, etc.). A real-world context, transferable skills, and a personalized inquiry path are incorporated in transdisciplinary content (Drake, 2012). Both have a place in Project-Based Learning and a unit can be simultaneously interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. With the right structure, facilitation, and unit design, educators can guide students through rigorous cross-curricular learning experiences.

What is student driven unit?

When open-ended, student driven units are facilitated, structured, and designed appropriately so that a student’s self-management, communication, and collaboration skills can increase (Brush & Saye, 2000). As students gain knowledge and understanding through authentic and sustained inquiry, they develop and refine transferable skills as well as content knowledge. Intentionally integrating multiple disciplines by establishing and communicating standards-based measurable criteria, providing guidance and scaffolding throughout inquiry and ideation, and developing clear project milestones are the major steps in effectively structuring Project-Based Learning.

What is the Gold Standard Design?

With the strategies above and the elements of the Gold Standard Design as guidance, each of the performance indicators below can be easily adapted as a driving question for a cross-curricular Project-Based Learning unit. These questions should be open-ended, and the language should be inviting; this will help students as they initiate their learning and think about the broad applications of the content that they are about to investigate.

Why is interdisciplinarity important in education?

Interdisciplinary instruction helps students understand why conflicts commonly arise over; the causes and consequences of an issue and, the ideal way for policy to address the issue of concern.

Who is the most famous psychologist who believes that students bring multiple forms of intelligence to the learning process?

Prominent psychologist Howard Gardner (1983) established that students bring multiple forms of intelligence to the learning process. As a result, given that students are heterogeneous in their learning styles and have diverse backgrounds, interests, experiences, talents, and values, he believes that drawing on a broad array of frameworks and methodologies will enhance student engagement, and thus learning.

What is the emphasis of IDL?

In IDL, there is often an emphasis on learner thinking creating a positive impact on their immediate world, or in the wider community. It has, in their eyes, a real-life purpose.

What is joyful learning?

Learning is joyful when learners are engaged in an IDL experience. That doesn’t mean it’s a laugh-a-minute. Joyful learning is hard fun, meaning that practitioners’ skill in pitching challenge is key, and questioning skills of practitioners and learners alike are tuned into stretching a little further than the last time. This means that learners and practitioners have to share and negotiate learning goals. Learners can do this when they know how, so from early years through primary and into secondary school, it’s vital for schools to build up their own curriculum of thinking as much as their curriculum of content.

Is there scepticism about the quality of learning achieved in secondary through IDL experiences?

There is still scepticism about the quality of learning achieved in secondary through IDL experiences. Colleges and universities might consider partnering with practitioners to measure the impact and requirements of quality IDL experiences.

Why is interdisciplinary teaching important?

Student, department, and institutional buy-in for interdisciplinary teaching is an important first step in developing activities and courses that cross disciplinary divides. At the institutional level, redesigning courses and curricula to include interdisciplinary teaching presents an opportunity to increase enrollment was noted as a way to appeal to administrators. Further, interdisciplinary teaching can broaden the enrollment in courses offered in individual disciplines, integrating geoscience, engineering, humanities, policy, education, and other majors. At the student level, interdisciplinary teaching appeals to students interested in multiple disciplines and who realize the necessity of tackling real-world problems through an interdisciplinary lens.

What is linked course?

The linked course/curriculum approach involves cohorts of students taking multiple coordinated courses being taught during the same semester or in sequence by different instructors who may be from different departments. This is a topical or thematic approach, where one key topic or theme is integrated into different courses and disciplines, or an individual faculty member draws information from across disciplines to address a key theme. Syllabi between the courses may be fully integrated or separate, but linked courses tend to incorporate at least once major integrative assignment between the courses.

What is a small scale implementation?

Small-scale implementations and practices can be a great way to start to incorporate interdisciplinary teaching into your classroom. While challenges and barriers may exist in incorporating disciplines outside your area of expertise, these small scale changes can build bridges between disciplinary divides and equip you to better overcome these challenges. Small scale changes include:

What is team teaching?

Traditional team teaching involves two or more instructors actively involved in teaching a cohort of students in a single course. This a popular method for teaching in an interdisciplinary fashion and may involve instructors from the same department with different specialties or from different departments. The coursework is generally integrated ...

Why is team teaching important?

Team Teaching. While potentially expensive, there is substantial added value in true team-teaching of courses. In addition to bringing more expertise to instruction, team teaching allows students to sort through and then integrate multiple perspectives, hypotheses, and opinions. Team teachers can also serve as role models to demonstrate effective ...

Why do we need guest speakers?

Guest speakers can provide a way for you and your students learn about topics outside your expertise and speakers from the community or industry can serve as a model for how what students are learning in class is applicable to their life and the importance of building a culture of collaboration to solve problems.

What is interdisciplinary course?

Interdisciplinary courses question and offer an alternative to traditional knowledge production processes in that they seek to be integrative and holistic, rather than fragmented and compartmentalized. They use an inquiry rather than a disciplinary or multi-disciplinary approach. The curricular paradigm is not one of simply combining or just using more than one discipline. Instead of relying on an additive model, these courses revision and restructure learning. Often, they are organized thematically, to facilitate the integration of information and methodologies. As Julie Thompson Klein notes in Mapping Interdisciplinary Studies (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 1999), “ . . . interdisciplinary study is creative and constructed rather than imitative and formulaic” (17).

Why is teaching interdisciplinary courses so challenging?

Teachers of interdisciplinary courses, as a result, have to compile their own readings making interdisciplinarity the framing mechanism, the syllabus’ primary emphasis. It is useful to organize the syllabus around critical themes, which allows integration of insights from different academic disciplines.

Why is contrast important in interdisciplinary studies?

Contrast is a necessary component for interdisciplinary study, since contrast reveals how each discipline focuses on some aspects of a problem even as it overlooks others. In an interdisciplinary course, the strengths and weaknesses of disciplines are themselves part of the subject matter of the study. Not only are you trying to bring three different kinds of expertise to a problem, but also you are showing how each of those perspectives has inherent limitations that can be revealed by contrast with the other two perspectives. These unexpected disconnections can then provide a basis for developing surprising and innovative connections when the disciplines are integrated in ways that direct our attention toward new methods of modeling and solving problems.

What is the difference between interdisciplinary and traditional academic approaches to knowledge?

Traditional academic approaches to knowledge divide learning into discrete disciplines, so that “history,” for instance, is considered the domain of the History department. In contrast, the interdisciplinary approach integrates knowledge from many disciplines. An interdisciplinary course focuses on interactive processes, borrowing, and building analogies, as well as the cross-fertilizations that occur when study in one discipline triggers new ways of thinking in other disciplines. In sum, the interdisciplinary course emphasizes connections among disciplines and integration of knowledge, themes, and ideas from different disciplines.

Which perspective emphasizes the role of economics and markets?

The second perspective is Liberalism. Liberalism emphasizes the role of economics/markets and how they shape (and should shape) society. Liberalism also emphasizes the actions of individual actors (workers, women, entrepreneurs, etc.) within the market.

What are the skills that employers value?

Employers reported that when hiring, they place the greatest value on demonstrated proficiency in skills and knowledge that cut across all college majors. The skills they rated most important include the ability to communicate clearly, both in writing and orally, teamwork, ethical decision making, critical thinking, ...

Why is cross-cutting important?

According to employers, this combination of cross-cutting skills is more important to an individual’s success at a company than the major she or he pursued while in college. A study by Burning Glass, a job market analysis company, reported similar results.